“This is an examination of obsession and being a fan, of people’s obsessions in relationships and how they can just erode and erode. Like, avoiding decisions for 15 years in a relationship and then ending up in this situation.

“I know Annie. I’ve met so many Annies in my life. She’s very wry with her humor, she’s very self-effacing and very quick witted,” she added.

The Aussie native has a family of four, with partner Bobby Cannavale (“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” the upcoming Martin Scorsese gangster film “The Irishman”), Rocco, 2, and infant Rafael. How does she cope with child-raising, filmmaking, publicity, life?

“Just drugs and alcohol,” Byrne answered gleefully and immediately with a straight face. “Heavy drugs, light on the alcohol.”

Is trying to find the right balance worrying?

“Of course. You go bonkers trying to figure out your life. Then it’s even more bizarre when you’ve got children. They just change everything.

“You always have this constant, immediate concern in your head, of consciousness of, Where are they? What are they doing? So it just changes every moment, in a way.”

Acting was her priority. “Of course they take priority. Then it becomes: You want to work for the right reasons. You try to be more selective, whereas probably I was a little more stumbling along.

“Now everything’s more finite. This is honestly the fastest year of my life. Definitely. After the birth of Rafael, this year feels like it’s been like five minutes and he’ll be a year in November and he was my little newborn like a week ago. It’s bizarre.”

Film critic and entertainment reporter Stephen Schaefer writes regularly for The Boston Herald with interviews, features, reviews and "Hollywood & Mine," a weekly BostonHerald.com/entertainment/movies column. He frequently speaks with film clubs about upcoming releases and often covers film festivals in Berlin, Venice, New York and Toronto.